Oct. 8, 1885 | 
that it is a barbarous custom unworthy of a civilised people. 
But Japanese tattooing is so superior to that of all other nations 
that European sailors are said to look forward to it as the 
principal advantage in a visit to the land of the Rising Sun. 
This being the method in which the practice is carried out, 
Dr. Baelz comes to discuss its oigin and meaning. The oldest 
reference we have to tattooing in Eastern Asia states that a 
Chinese prince, about three thousand years ago, who was nomin- 
ated heir to the throne against his will, had himself tattooed in 
order to render his succession impossible. But at the present 
day the practice in China and Korea has fallen into desuetude, 
while in Burmah it still appears to be in vogue. In 1872,a man 
was exhibited in Europe who had been a prisoner amongst the 
Burmese, and who was tattooed from the crown of the head to 
the sole of the foot. The practice is still prevalent amongst the 
South Sea Islanders and the American Indians. In his work on 
the origin of writing, Wuttke seeks to show that tattooing is a kind 
of writing ; but however correct this theory may be in the case of 
the tattooed peoples known to him, it certainly does not hold 
good in the case of the Japanese. The signification of the 
practice, says Dr. Baelz, amongst the latter is quite distinct from 
that which it has amongst other peoples. In the first place, 
amongst the South Sea Islanders and the Indians, tattooing has 
a religious, a symbolical meaning ; it is a ceremonial, frequently a 
sacred process. There is nothing of this in Japan—neither 
ceremony, nor other peculiar meaning; it is done for cosmetic 
purposes and for no other. Again, amongst other peoples 
tattooing was a species of distinction ; it marked the heroes, 
leaders, chiefs, of the tribe. In Japan it marks a man of the 
lower classes. Elsewhere, also, the uncovered parts of the body, 
such as the face, neck, hands, &c., are the favourite spots for 
tattooing ; in Japan it is only the portions usually clothed which 
are tattooed. It isnoticeable that amongst the Ainos the tattoo- 
ing takes place on the exposed parts of the body, and that it is 
largely practised by women, two circumstances which distinguish 
it irom the practice amongst the Japanese, and in which the 
Ainos resemble other northern peoples such as the Esquimaux, 
the Ostiaks, and others. In answer to the question, What 
meaning has the practice amongst the Japanese, as distinct from 
other races ? the author replies that in Japan tattooing is a gar- 
ment, a decoration. Various proofs of this statement are 
advanced, amongst them being the following : only those parts 
of the body are tattooed which are usually covered ; all workmen 
do not tattoo themselves, but exclusively those whose work 
causes excessive perspiration, and who can, therefore, work best 
in a semi-nude state, such as runners, grooms, bearers, &c., and 
amongst these the practice prevails only with those who have 
connection with large towns, where nudity would be objection- 
able. Their garments are tattooed on their bodies, and they 
appear clothed without clothes before the public. The peasants 
are never tattooed. Again, the colours of the tattooing corre- 
sponds with that of the dress ; it is the same dirty, dark blue. 
This theory never suggested itself to the Japanese : they thought 
that it must have come from China, and that it was a species of 
punishment. It was, it is true, at one time the custom to tattoo 
marks into criminals, but this was confined to a ring on the 
elbow. It would not explain the spread of the practice amongst 
certain classes in certain directions. Dr. Baelz’s theory that it is 
merely a Substitute for dress, and as the wearing of clothes is 
now compulsory, tattooing has lost its meaning. As for its 
origin, the peoples around the Japanese, the Ainos and the 
Loochooans, have practised it ; and the Japanese navigators who 
travelled far and wide in the Eastern seas in the sixteenth 
century might well have seen it elsewhere. The Japanese dis- 
covered, says Dr. Baelz, that man can paint a figure on his skin 
which the rain cannot wash away, the sun wither, or even all- 
devouring Time destroy, and with their instinctive artistic skill 
they gradually developed and perfected the original rude figures 
in idea and execution. At first few only wore this blue skin- 
dress, but these few appeared to their companions decorated and 
clothed (a tattooed person does not appear actually naked), and 
as such a garment was cheap and lasting, and every man could 
have it according to his own fancy, tattooing became the fashion. 
It may be added here that among the Igorrotos of the 
mountanious districts in the north of Luzon tattooing is also 
exceedingly elaborate, although it consists rather of a series of 
lines, curves, &c., than of one large, elaborate picture. Dr. 
Meier, in a paper read not long since before the Anthropological 
Society of Berlin, described the Igorrotos as tattooing the hands, 
arms, breast, and also part of the legs. The back is untouched 
NALTORE 
| 
567 
except by one tribe. A picture of the sun, as a number of con- 
centric circles on the back of the hand, is the commonest object 
represented. The process takes place at puberty, and is a long 
one, as the punctures (which are made witha three-pointed instru- 
ment which is clumsy in comparison with the Japanese needles) 
become inflamed and take a long time to heal. The tattooing 
of the Buriks, a tribe of Igorrotos, takes three or four months to 
com »lete. 
It may not be out of place here to refer to Dr. Baelz’s aocount 
of the Japanese use of moxa, which, like tattooing, comes into his 
section dealing with the skin. On the bodies of almost every 
Japanese, and sometimes on every part of the body, one sees 
round white spots. These are the moxa spots, produced . by 
burning the flesh with a species of plant, with the object of curing 
some affection. This is a universal popular specific in Japan, 
which is its home, although moxa is to be found used elsewhere. 
Jt was introduced from Japan to Europe by the Portuguese and 
Spaniards, and the name is Japanese. In May the leaves of the 
Artemisia Chinensis are powdered and dried, and the mass cut 
into small blocks or pieces. One of these is laid on the body and 
set on fire, burning slowly away. At first it naturally produces a 
sore, more or less deep, according to the intensity of the heat ; 
soon this heals, leaving the scar for ever. The belief in the 
efficacy of this process is universal, and, Dr. Baelz thinks, not 
altogether misplaced, for the moxa acts much as our blisters do. 
Moreover, from the accounts of those who have gone through the 
cure, it is by no means so painful as one would anticipate from 
the heroic nature of the remedy. 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
American Fournal of Science, August.—Origin of coral reefs 
and islands, by James D. Dana. ‘The arguments recently raised 
by Dr. A. Geikie against Darwin’s theory of subsidence as an 
explanation of the formation of afoé/s, or barrier reefs inclosing 
a lagoon, are discussed and shown to be largely based on mis- 
understandings of the facts. It is pointed out that local eleva- 
tions within the sinking area are not evidence against a general 
subsidence, such local disturbances and faults being almost 
necessary concomitants of subsidence. The conclusions as to 
changes of level in the large Pacific groups south of the equator 
agree mainly with Darwin’s views, and the subsidence indicated, 
according to him, by afo//s, is shown to be real, not an apparent 
sinking due to change of water-level.—On the meteorite of 
Tomatlan, Jalisco, Mexico, by Charles Upham Shepard. The 
striking peculiarity of this stone, which fell in August 1879, is 
the prevalence everywhere of octahedral crystals of nickeliferous 
iron. The specific gravity of the two fragments examined was 
3°47—4.43.—On the widespread occurrence of allanite as an 
accessory constituent of many rocks, by Joseph P. Iddings and 
Whitman Cross. From its mode of occurrence and association 
the authors conclude that allanite must now be added to the 
group of primary, accessory rock constituents, similar to zircon, 
sphene, and apatite, though much rarer than any of these. In 
some regions it appears to be quite uniformly distributed through 
certain types of rock, such as the porphyrites and allied porphy- 
ries of the Ten Mile District, Colorado.—Crystals of analcite 
from the Phcenix Mine, Lake Superior Copper Region, by 
Samuel L. Penfield. These crystals, which occur thickly 
grouped together on calcite and native copper associated with 
tabular crystals of apophyllite, are of all sizes from minute 
particles up to one centimetre in diameter. The small ones are 
simply tetragonal trisoctahedrons of the form (211), 2 — 2; the 
larger ones are of the same form, but with the planes differently 
arranged.—On a differential resistance-thermometer, by T. C. 
Mendenhall. This instrument has been devised and constructed 
for the study of certain problems connected with meteorology, 
especially the observation of soil and earth temperature, and the 
use of which would not demand greater skill than that of the 
ordinary meteorological observer. It consists essentially of 
a mercurial thermometer, not unlike ordinary forms, 
except that the bulb is greatly enlarged, so that the 
stem may have a diameter of about a millimetre, still 
leaving the scale tolerably open. By its means observa- 
tions may be taken in less than a minute, no time being con- 
sumed in the preparation of liquids of known temperature at the 
observing station, as in the use of the thermo-junction on the 
resistance coil.—Impact friction and faulting, by George F, 
Becker. The author discusses the phenomenon of ‘‘step 
